Method of making shoes.



E. A. FLEMING.

METHOD OF MAKING SHOES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 5. 1914.

1,150,181. 1 Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

111/ 44wlllmmlwmllayllllmlmlw1' \NiTnesses. lnveni'on Eugene A. Fleming,

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Afjys E. A. FLEMING.

METHOD OF MAKING SHOES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 5,1914- 1 1 59,1 81 o Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

l6 irne ss'es. InvenTon Eugene A. Fleming, b zww m W AT Ty s.

EUGENE A. FLEMING; OF SOUTH BRAINTBEE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORTJF ONE- HALF TO BERT-1'. MARTIN, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS.

' mn'rnon or MAKING snons.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, EUGENE A. FLEM'i e, a citizen of the United States, residing at South Braintree, county of Norfolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Methods of Making Shoes, of which the following description, in connection with theaccompanying drawing, is a specification, like characters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates to a novel process for making welt shoes, and the objects of the invention are to provide a welt shoe which has great flexibility, in which the insole is free from ridges or shoulders such as are frequently caused by the channeling of the insole; which is so constructed that the lasting operation is greatly facilitated, and which has other advantages, all as will be more fully hereinafter described and then pointed out in the claims.

Inorder to give an understanding of my invention, I have illustrated in the drawings a selected embodiment thereof which discloses the various steps of manufacture.

Figure 1 is a cross sectional view through.

the upper before the welt'is sewed thereto; Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the shoe lasted, the welt sewed to the upper and the insole secured in position; Fig. 3 is a crosssectional view through the completed shoe;

F ig; 4 is a view showing the shoe in perspective before the outsole is sewed thereto; Fig. 5 is a view showing the piece of material from which the Welt and insole are made; Fig. 6 is a view showing the outsole.

My improved shoe is of that type in which the welt extends clear around the upper and in manufacturingmy shoe, I propose to employ an endless seamless welt which is cut to the desired shape from a flat piece of sheet material and to employ an insole having an edge contour corresponding to the inner edgecontour of the endless seamless welt. In making my improved shoe the welt is sewed to the marginal edge of the upper, the insole is then applied to the shoe and secured in place, and the outsole is subsequently sewed or otherwise fastened to the welt. By reason of the fact that the insole employed has an edge contour correspond parts and the lasting of the upper;

ther, the fact that the welt which is used is an endless seamless welt strip cut to the proper shape from sheet material facilitates the operation of lasting due to the fact that the tendency of the welt when it is sewed to the upper is to cause'the marginal edge of the upper to conform to the desired shape of the shoe which isdetermined by the last.

In the drawings 1 designates the upper which may be of any suitable shape or material and of any desired size or style depending on the character of the shoe to be made. In making a shoe I provide a continuous endless welt strip 2 which is sewed to the marginal edge 3 of the upper and extends clear around the upper; This welt strip is cut to the desired shape directly from a flat piece of sheet material and,

therefore, it naturally retains its shape and position. After the welt strip has been sewed to the marginal edge of the upper an insole 4 is secured'in place, and this may be done during the lasting operation if desired; The insole 4 is secured to; the upper by means which do not necessitate'the employment of a rib or lip on the insole to receive the inseam stitches as usual in Good; 1

year welt shoes. In my improved shoe I propose to' secure the upper in place by means of the liningf 5, said lining being herein shown as provided with the portions Gthat extend be yond the marginal edge. of the upper and which are folded over and. secured to the insole 4:, as shown in Fig. 2. These e21 I tended portions 6 of the lining may be fastened to the insole in any suitable way, but

I will preferably simply cement them to the sole as this will ordinarily constitute a sufliciently strong structure. Some form of fastening devices might be used for this purpose if desired. The insole 4 has a special relation to the welt strip 2 in that the exterior contour of the insole corresponds in shape and size to the interior edge contour of the welt strip 2 so that when the arts of the shoe are assembled, as shown in igs. 2 and 3, the insole and welt will accurately fit each other. After the insole and welt have been secured in place the outsole 7 is secured to the welt by any suitable means, such as stitching 8. This particular relation between the shape of the insole and the interior shape of the welt may be secured in any suitable way. One convenient way, however, is to cut the welt strip "and the insole from the same piece of material,

' are brought together in the 'shoe they will 201 doing the outsole when applied to the welt of the shoe will accurately fit the, welt and a accurately'fit each other.

It is possible to make the piece. 10 from which" the insole 4. and welt strip 2 are cut of the same shape and size as the. outsole 7 and in fact I prefer to have the pieces 7 and 10 of exactly the same contour because by so better shoe can be made. Further, by means of this the cost of manufacture is cheapened as the pieces 7 and 10 can be cut from leather or other material by means of the same die..-

I may also provide for' cutting the welt strip 2 and insole 4 simultaneously from a pieceof sheet material "by means of a die having two cutting edges, one to out along the line 11 and the other to cut the exterior contour of the welt strip. However, the particular way in which the welt strip and sole are cut from the sheet material is not essential to my invention, the important point be-- ing that when formed'thc exterior edge con-, 7

' tour of the" insolecorresponds to the interior contour ofithe welt .strip. Another advan-' tage which is incident to the above-described construction lies in the fact that the form of welt used facilitates the lasting operation. It will be noted that the interior contour of the welt strip is the same as the exterior contour of the insole and hence when the shoe is lasted and the upper is drawn into the proper position, the natural shape which the welt assumes at the points 14 will tend to draw the sides of the upper closely against the last, thusmaking it much easier for the operator to bring the upper into close contact with the last. Further, since the insole is secured to the upper by means of the extending portion 6 of the lining instead of any ribs or lips and the'fishoe presents a much smoother interior than the ordinary IWeltshoe. s 'The dies which are used for cutting out I the outsole 7 and the piece 10 may if desired be of such a shape as to form positioning projections 16 on some portion of the periphery,

as-for instance, at the toe and heel, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the projections on the pieces tages.

vto be limited to the constructional 7 and 16 having similar positions. The advantage of these is that they assist the operator in properly positioningthe outsole upon the lasted shoe for since the projections 16 on the outsole correspond in position to the projections 16 on the piece 10 the proper po- 'sitionin of the outsole on the' shoe involves merely ringing the projection 16 thereon into line with those on the welt.

My improved shoe is extremely flexible and is easy on the foot. It can be manufactured cheaply and has many other advan- While I have illustrated herein a selected embodiment of the invention, I do not wish d etails shown. V

I claim:

1. The process of consists in cutting an endless peri heral welt strip from a sole-shaped piece 0 sheet material, sewing said endless welt strip to the marginal edge of a shoe upper, securing to the upper as an insole the central portion of said solo-shaped piece remaining after the welt strip is cut therefrom, and sewing an outsole to the welt.

2. The process of making a shoe Which consists in providing an insole of the proper shape, forming from a piece of sheet material an endless welt strip having an inner edge contour corresponding to the outer edge contour of the insole, securing the welt' and insole to the upper and securing an outsole to the welt.

3. The, process of making a shoe which consists in forming from a single sole-shaped piece of sheet material both an endless welt and an insole by severing said piece along a line adjacent the periphery and having a contour corresponding to that of the insole desired, attaching said welt and insole to the upper with the edge of the upper interposed betweenthe inner edge of the welt strip and the outer edge of the insole and securing an outsole to the welt. I

4. The process ofmaking a shoe which consists in forming from a single sole-shaped piece of sheet material both an endless welt making a shoe which and an insole by severing said piece along a 1 line adjacent the. periphery and having a contour corresponding to that of the insole j desired, attaching said welt and insole to by mseam' stitching the insole 1s free from' A EUGENE arnnmuc. ,Witnesses: I

- BEBTRAM T. MARTIN,

THOMAS J. DRUMMOND.

I have signed my 

